The Werewolf's Fury
by Dragonheim
Summary: NEW CHAP. 1! When a simple story that one of the hamhams tells the others comes true, the supposedly fun day turns into a nightmare.
1. Blood Moon

THE WEREWOLF'S FURY

New and Improved! (I told you I'd get to it sooner or later)

Now, don't get your shorts in a bind. I only rewrote the first couple chapters. The reason? I reread them, and during the entire thing, I thought to myself "Holy crap, these first chapters suck!". I'm only re-wording it to make it sound better, not making an entire new beginning. (because it would screw up the rest of the story).

Hamtaro and all related characters ©Ritsuko Kawaii. Any related names, places, or ideas are unintentional and completely coincidental.

Chapter 1

The lights were on at the clubhouse. This wouldn't be too uncommon, except for the fact that it was late at night. Normally the group wouldn't go there after dark, but Boss had organized a little slumber party and to watch a scary movie.

"God damn this TV!" Boss roared. "It _never_ works!"

Pashmina gave him a dirty look. "Ahem, _Penelope_ is here."

"Oh, right. Watch the language . . ."

"Ha! You'd better hope that Penelope's first word isn't a swear word, the way these boys talk around here," Sandy giggled.

"What? I don't swear, it's all Boss! I need to keep my vocab clean for the ladies," Stan said suavely.

"Alright, alright, I get it," Boss said. "Now is there anyone here who can fix this TV? I kind of wanted to watch that movie."

"By the way, Boss, what movie is it? And what's it rated? I don't know if Penelope can watch a horror movie because she'll get scared."

"The movie we're watchin' is called _Night of the Black Fox_. And I have no idea what it's rated. Besides, if we can't get this darn television to work, we won't be watching anything," he told her.

"Maybe we could tell our own horror stories," Howdy suggested. "I think I've got a good one up my sleeve . . . If I had a sleeve! He he heeeee!"

The ham-hams groaned. "Get on with the story, will ya?"

"Alrighty. If you're easily scared, I'd suggest you leave . . ." he started. "Too late! Now ya gotta stay. Well, one night, out in these here woods, a ham-ham went out to play with his buddies. He walked into the trees, and soon got lost. He looked around, hoping he'd find his way back, but he couldn't. Suddenly, he heard a scratch. Another. Another. They started to sound more like footsteps as the seconds passed. Then, without notice, the ham-ham heard a loud roar and a dark figure right above him . . . it was a werewolf!"

"What happened to him?" Bijou asked.

"Hold on, you'll see. His friends soon noticed he was missing, and decided to go look. They split up, and one of them actually did find him. Or what was left. All that remained was a bloody pulp of flesh and bone."

"Ew! I think that's enough, Howdy," Sandy said, a frown on her face.

"Good, because that was the end."

"Great, Howdy. Now look what you've done." Pashmina motioned to Penelope, who was cowering behind her. "Could you at least give us a little warning beforehand?"

"I did!" he insisted. "Didn't I say that it was scary right at the beginning?"

"Yeah, he did," Panda backed him up. "But I guess we didn't believe you. You always lie to us and fib and make up all these things. Kind of like the boy who cried wolf. Or in your case, werewolf."

"Alright, guys, enough! We should do something else to keep us occupied," Boss interrupted. "Who wants to play a game?"

"That depends. Board game or card game?" Hamtaro asked him.

"Board game? More like _bored _game. Let's go play outside," Stan suggested.

"But Stan! It's dark outside! And that story Howdy told has me totally creeped out," his sister complained.

He rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows that Howdy was just trying to scare us. That story wasn't real."

"He's right," Boss complied. "Howdy's story is just a load of bull."

"But it's dark out, like Sandy said. What are we supposed to do in the dark?" Cappy questioned.

A smirk appeared over Boss' face. "Why . . . we could play hide and seek. It's way more fun in the dark, because you can't see the hiders as easily."

"I have a better idea. Hide and seek _tag_. That way we can run if the seeker is near us. That's my favorite way to play," Stan said.

"Should we bring a flashlight just in case?"

"Sure. I don't care."

Boss and Stan walked toward the door, while everyone else just sat at their spots. Boss looked back and noticed, and motioned them to follow. A couple of groans were heard, but they did come with.

X X X X X X X X X X

They gathered at the field near the clubhouse. Boss had the flashlight gripped tightly in his paws.

"Okay. First we need to decide who's 'it'. Let's do rock-paper-scissors. The loser is the first seeker."

They all formed a circle, and prepared to show their sign. On the count of three, they revealed . . . and in a freak coincidence, all had chosen 'rock' except Cappy and Howdy, who picked scissors.

"Face off between Cappy and Howdy, it looks like. Okay, on the count of three . . ."

They revealed. Howdy had scissors, and Cappy had paper.

"Ha ha har! Always stick with your first choice!" Howdy teased.

Cappy started to count, and the ham-hams scattered in all directions. While he was counting, he overheard Sandy and Maxwell talking north of him. That's where he'd go first, he thought to himself.

"Ready or not, here I come! He shouted as he started off. Like he said, he headed north. Straight into the woods. He had thoughts in the back of his head, a little voice telling him not to go. But he did anyway.

He pushed aside some branches, hoping to see someone. No one. Cappy continued on, only to hear a rustling in the bushes. He stopped. He was about to jump in, to try and catch the ham-ham hiding inside. But right as he prepared to leap, Sandy made a mad dash out, just avoiding getting tagged. All Cappy saw was the brief flash of brown stripes rush by him.

He sighed, and ventured further. Maxwell had to be out there somewhere, he heard him. Cappy had soon gone so far, he was completely lost. He began to panic, shouting for Maxwell. Maxwell had actually gotten out from his hiding spot and followed Sandy, but Cappy didn't see him then and thought he was still out in the woods somewhere.

Suddenly, he heard another noise in the brush. Thinking it was Max, he walked closer. But to his surprise, he did not see the warm, caring eyes of Maxwell, but instead the cold, green eyes of something else. Cappy turned to run, but it was too late; the creature made a mighty leap and landed upon him, pinning him to the ground.

He looked up, straight into the face of the beast. In the dark, Cappy could make out the long, pointed snout of it, and the shaggy coat. It was still unclear to him what exactly it was, but he knew one thing for sure: it wanted him dead.

Its teeth were enclosed in a menacing snarl, while the jet-black claws flexed in and out, preparing to strike its target. Muscles lined the creature's long, thin arms and legs, and the tail waved back and forth, excited for the kill.

It raised its body into the moonlight, lifting its huge paw up the slice him. The silver light from the moon confirmed to Cappy what he was dealing with, and he let out a scream. "WEREW-"

He didn't get the word out before the werewolf smacked him across the face, leaving three red lines below his eyes. The beast was overconfident in itself, and drew its attention away for a short moment, but long enough for Cappy to slip away from it. He didn't get far before the wolf noticed, and lunged at him. He lost his footing and fell, once again looking into its face. It stared back, seeming to cut into his soul with its emotionless eyes. Cappy looked away, terrified beyond belief by the dark figure above him. But it was too late before he noticed his fatal mistake: he exposed his throat.

Taking this as its chance, the werewolf opened its jaws and clamped down upon his neck, scything through the flesh in his neck. Cappy grabbed at its muzzle, trying to pull it away, but failed. He sputtered out a final "He-helkkkhhh-ehhkk . . ." before closing his eyes for the last time. He fell lifeless.

The werewolf looked down at him, blood dripping down from its teeth. It simply stared at the carcass for a bit, then picked him up by the head and dragged him deeper into the forest, leaving a trail of deep crimson behind.

X X X X X X X X X X

Nearby in the field, the ham-hams realized that Cappy had not returned from the woods. They had begun to search, but had no luck so far. Sandy was put on the spot, for she was the last to see him.

"Maxwell and I will go look in the trees over there. That's where I last saw him."

They started off into thee dark forest, but were stopped by Stan. "Hey! I want to come with too!" he called after them.

They followed the thin trail for a bit until they reached the spot that Sandy had hid. Maxwell sniffed the air to catch Cappy's scent, and followed it west. But that wasn't the only smell in the air. There was something new . . . something that he had not smelled before . . .

Stan ran ahead. "I'd bet money that he got lost. He is the most scatterbrained guy that I've ever met."

Maxwell sniffed the air again. "He's close."

Stan could smell him too. He pulled aside a branch that was in his way, and stopped in his tracks at what lay in front of him.


	2. Wolf in the Clubhouse

Chapter 2

There, in front of him, was Cappy. He was lying on his back, and was partially eaten. Pieces of bones and other bits were scattered about, and the only trace of what had been there was a set of bloody pawprints leading away into the bushes. Sandy and Maxwell ran up by Stan, and they were just as equally surprised. They just stared at Cappy for a few seconds, but soon looked away and ran, fearing whatever had killed him might come back.

_There is no way . . . this must be a horrible nightmare. Cappy . . . gone?_

Not one of them said a word until they found Boss, Hamtaro, and Oxnard.

"B-boss! W-we found C-c-cappy." They could hardly talk under their heavy breaths.

"Good! Is he all right? Tell him that he doesn't have to be 'it' again if he doesn't want to . . . "

"NO! Not good! Cappy's like, dead," Sandy said as she fought back tears.

"Yeah. We found him in a clearing, and he . . . he . . . was torn up. Bad," Stan added.

"WHAT!" the other group shouted, in shock. "What happened to him?"

Maxwell tried to recall the scene. "Well, there were pawprints. It could have been a cat, but the pawprints were a bit too small to be a cat's."

"Pawprints . . . wait a minute . . . you don't think . . . Howdy's story . . . it can't be true, can it? With the werewolf?" Oxnard was turning white.

"I doubt it. There's no such thing as werewolves," Maxwell stated.

"What else was there?" Hamtaro asked.

"Ugh. Do I really need to describe it?" Stan said with a disgusted look on his face.

"Oh. I guess not, then," Hamtaro said. "If he was so badly hurt, how could you tell it was him?"

"Like, his hat," Sandy said, sounding a bit sarcastic.

"Uh, guys?" Stan interrupted them, "Do you think we should tell the others?"

"Good idea. Let's go." They gathered up all the rest of the groups, but did not tell them what was going on until they reached the clubhouse. Once there, they broke the news.

X X X X X X X X X X

"Cappy? And he was so young," Panda said. Then Maxwell pointed out the pawprints he remembered from earlier, and everyone's eyes turned to Howdy.

"What? I didn't do a thing! I just told that story because I didn't want to go outside, that's all!" Howdy told them nervously as their suspicious gazes didn't leave him.

Hamtaro sighed. "I guess he's right. We shouldn't blame him just for some lame story he told us. Besides, werewolves aren't real, remember?" The ham-hams nodded in agreement.

"But, Maxwell said the pawprints were too small to be a cat's!" Oxnard said.

"There are plenty of other predators out there that have small pawprints," Maxwell told him.

Boss narrowed his eyes at Maxwell. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, there are raccoons, and weasels. And it might have been a kitten, too, I guess," Maxwell said.

"A kitten? I think not. Did you see what Cappy looked like out there?" Stan mentioned.

"Maybe it was a weasel or something," Boss said. "I don't even think cats wander out this far. Especially kittens. Their mothers wouldn't allow it."

"If it comes back, we'll know what it is. I don't think we should waste our night together arguing about something we'll probably never know," Dexter said

"I don't think I want it to come back!" Oxnard whined.

Boss reassured him. "Don't worry, Oxy. Everything will be fine."

X X X X X X X X X X

Outside, the werewolf had followed the ham-hams to the clubhouse and silently waited outside the door to the inside of the tree. The door wasn't locked, but it didn't try to get in. It lifted its nose to the dark, summer sky and sniffed the air for a few moments, like it was trying to pick up a scent. The werewolf looked back down at the door, and then over to its left, where it spotted a tunnel. Figuring it lead inside, the beast crawled down it. It knew that the hamsters would find him if he went in through the door.

Its assumption was correct. The tunnel lead to one of the back rooms of the clubhouse, which was even better because the ham-hams rarely ever went there. It backed into a shadow to avoid being seen, and then it just waited . . .

X X X X X X X X X X

"Do you know what would be fun? A sleep-over! Our owners will be home so late that they'll be tired and won't even notice we're gone!" Hamtaro exclaimed.

"I don't know . . . after what happened with Cappy. I would feel so bad that we would do something without him," Bijou replied.

Stan looked over at Hamtaro. "Bijou's got a point, you know. But we also don't get a chance very often to do something like this, so I think we should just go for it. It'll be fun, right?"

"Yeah," the group mumbled.

Hamtaro looked glad. "Good! We should all find a place to sleep for the night, and then maybe we should come back here by the table and eat some sunflower seeds, and tell scary stories . . . "

"I think we've had our fair share of scary stuff for the night, don't you think?" Pashmina said.

"I don't mind, as long as they're not _really_ scary," Dexter said.

"Deal. Everyone go find a spot to sleep for the night and meet back here when you're done," Boss told them, and then they were off.

Most of the group went upstairs, while a few picked a spot in the main room. Panda, because every other place was taken, walked down to the back rooms. He picked one and went inside.

_This place is so dark. Boss really needs to get a decent electrician back here._

He turned to go back to the center room but stopped as something caught the corner of his eye. He noticed the dark outline of a figure, but he couldn't quite make it out. Ever curious, he walked up closer until he could make out fur, then hands, and set of nasty teeth. The hair stood up on the back of Panda's neck as he thought of the werewolf in Howdy's story, and he took off like a rocket down the hall.


	3. Second Kill

Chapter 3

Panda raced down the hall as fast as he could. He finally reached the main room, and everyone was there already.

Boss, noticing the look on Panda's face, spoke up. "Hey, what's wrong, Panda? You look like you've seen a ghost or somethin'."

"I _did_ see something. But I didn't exactly see it clearly," Panda said.

"Could you make out any parts of it?" Maxwell asked.

"Well, whatever I saw had fur, and...and...," Panda shivered at the thought of it.

"What?" the others said in unison.

"It had these claws. And they looked really sharp, too. That's why I ran, because I was afraid it would come after me," he said. The look on the ham-ham's faces turned to fear as he talked.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm seriously freaked out now. Maybe we should just go home to sleep tonight," Oxnard said.

Panda quickly replied, "I-I don't know for sure if it was like an animal of some kind, though. It could have been a coat or something. Things seem to be scarier in the dark, you know."

"I say we go check out this room before we start making any judgements. Who wants to come with me?" Boss asked. None of them raised their hands at first, but as seconds passed, a few of them decided to go with. They were Dexter, Howdy, and Stan. Panda almost had no choice but to go with because he knew what to look for. Then they looked back at the others, and then down the hall at the room Panda went into.

"We'll be fine guys. Its probably nothing, anyway," Boss reassured the group as they walked down the hallway. When they reached the room, they entered cautiously and looked around.

"It was right there," Panda said as he pointed into a corner. "Maybe it left."

"Well, if it's gone now, either you saw a real animal or you're having hallucinations," Howdy said.

"No! I'm sure it was real! I saw it with my own eyes," he said.

"Sure it was...," Howdy replied.

Their conversation was interrupted when they heard Dexter scream like mad. They stopped talking and looked back at him only to find a set of huge claws digging into his ribs. Not knowing what it was at first, they looked up and saw what was doing it. It was the werewolf. The same one that had killed Cappy earlier. Teeth barred, it was looking down at them with a wicked expression on its face. Boss hurled himself at it, but the creature didn't budge. It took the hand it was grabbing Dexter with, and ripped it across his chest, leaving huge cuts where the claws had torn into him and causing him to scream even louder. He fell to the ground in pain, and couldn't get back up. Barely being able to move, he couldn't resist the wolf's strength when it flipped him onto his stomach. He tried to look up at the beast, and pleaded in vain to leave him alone.

"Leave me alone! Someone! DO SOMETHING!"

Not seeming to pay attention to what Dexter was saying, the werewolf flashed its teeth at him and bit down hard on the center of his back, cracking his spine and completely severing his spinal cord. The others looked on in horror as the wolf released its grip from Dexter. Then, a voice was heard from the main room.

"What's going on back there? Did you see something?" one of them said. The werewolf heard it and perked up its ears. Soon, the other ham-hams were running down the hall to see what was up, and the wolf took off because it didn't want to face more than what was in that small group at the time. The original group didn't pay attention to where it went because they were watching Dexter like a hawk, waiting for some sign of life.

"Guys! Are youaaaAAAHHH!" The others froze as they saw Dexter lying motionless on the floor, his fur covered in blood. Stan, Boss, Howdy, and Panda were still panic-stricken from what had just happened, and could barely explain what just happened.

"You would never believe this, but Howdy's story was true! There _is_ a werewolf! It killed Dexter!" Stan said, still wide-eyed. "I bet that's what got Cappy, too!"

Maxwell was astonished. "You're not serious, are you? And this whole time I thought all those stories were just legends."

"And, uh, don't get all worked up over this, now, but, uh, I think it might still be in here. We just don't know where," Boss said. The ham-hams apparently didn't take this news well, because either they began to panic or they started to cry.

"Oh, Boss! We're not safe here! What should we do!" Bijou said, half crying. Suddenly, they all went pale as they heard a blood-curling howl come from inside the clubhouse.

"We need to do something, hams. This thing can't take any more of our friends . . . "


	4. Saved by a Book

Chapter 4

Howdy and Panda volunteered to carry Dexter's body outside, while the others sat back down at the table.

"This is, like, a living nightmare. What are we going to do?" Sandy asked.

"We need to get this thing out of the clubhouse, that's what!" Boss said. "It must have gone upstairs somewhere when we weren't looking."

"Luckily Snoozer's down here." Pashmina said.

"Ookwee!" shouted Penelope.

"Maxwell, go look in one of your books to see what it says about killing a werewolf. We'll wait here," said Boss.

"I'll come with. I don't think we should go anywhere alone with that thing hanging around here." Sandy said.

They got up and walked toward the staircase. Maxwell paused. "Oh no. . .,"

"What?"

"My library's upstairs. Oh well. We won't take very long." They went upstairs and through a hallway and entered his small library. Sandy stayed by the door and Maxwell looked for a book on monsters.

"I can't seem to find it, Sandy," he said. "Maybe I brought it into another room. Will you come with and look?" They went further down the upstairs hallway, and it split into many rooms as they went farther down.

"You go look in this room and I'll go in this one. That way we can find it faster," he said. Sandy went into the room on the right, while Maxwell went into the room on the opposite side.

The room Sandy was in looked like it was more of a storage room, because it was cluttered with lots of old furniture and tables and other little things. The room itself was fairly big, but all the junk took up a lot of space.

"I need to find a book on monsters, huh? I can do that," she said to herself. She found a stack of books lying on the floor and started to rummage through it.

"Dictionary, no. Old thesaurus, no. Hotties Weekly! This must be Stan's. Encyclopedia. . .," she looked at it for a few moments. "Maybe."

She began to look though it, but realized it only went through D and E. "Maybe there are some other interesting books in here," she said.

She was caught by surprise when all of a sudden she heard a loud _ccrraash_ from within the room she was in and looked over toward the wall to see a gigantic hole was busted into it. But what scared her the most was the fact that the werewolf was standing in the spot that the wall used to be. It had obviously used its full power to ram through it, and was now staring directly at Sandy. She shrieked, and ran as fast as she could through the mess in the room. The wolf was right on her tail, and she realized that if she ran she wasn't going to make it. She slid under a strong table that was surrounded by junk on all sides (except for the space which she got into it) and the werewolf stopped and looked down at it.

_Go away, go away, go away, go away, go away . . . _

She seemed to be safe at the moment, but right when her confidence raised, the beast slammed its muzzle through the hole, snapping at Sandy. She screamed, and then pushed herself as far away from the wolf's jaws as possible. Its teeth seemed to get closer to her as every second passed. Heart racing, she looked around for something to get it away from her. On the floor by her was one of Maxwell's outdated dictionaries.

She picked it up, and waiting for the right moment, she swung it as hard as she could at the werewolf. It hit it directly on the nose, and it yelped in pain and pulled back from under the table.She then listened for it to go away, and not until then did she crawl out from under the table.

Overcome with relief, she ran over to the room Maxwell was in, but he was already heading toward her.

"Sandy! I heard you screaming! Is everything okay?"

She began to cry. "Oh, Maxwell! I was so scared! The werewolf tried to get me! I hit it with a book and it left. I thought I was a goner for sure when I saw it in there!"

"It's all right, Sandy. You're safe now. Let's go back downstairs."

X X X X X X X X X X

The werewolf was sulking around in the attic, still whimpering about its nose. How wonderful it would have been to have caught that hamster and torn it to pieces. Just like he would the rest, he thought. Their warm blood would taste good in his mouth. It took its paw off its nose for a short while, but put it back on soon afterward because he noticed it was bleeding slightly. Oh, how they would pay for this.

He walked over to what looked like a small chest and opened it. Inside were pictures of all of the ham-hams. Perfect. He looked through them, and one caught his eye. Penelope. The baby of the group. That would be a great loss for them if the baby was killed for some, _unfortunate reason_. He grinned as he thought what he'd do, and then slowly went through a small door that led right into Boss' room.


	5. A Child's Demise

Chapter 5

"Well?" Boss asked Sandy and Maxwell as he spotted them coming down the stairs empty-handed.

"Nothing. We'd have looked longer, but it turns out that the werewolf is hanging around by the library now. We can't go back up there until it leaves," Maxwell responded.

Howdy narrowed his eyes at him. "How do you know? Did you see him or somethin'?"

"Well, _I_ didn't, but Sandy did. She saw it in the storage room," he said, "and then it came after her."

Sandy sighed. "I never knew how scary it looked until then. Oh, I hope I, like, never see it again. Its teeth were so big-"

"Wait a minute!" Stan shouted. "What was it doing to you that you saw its teeth?"

"I don't really know. It was all such a blur, now that I try to remember it."

Maxwell thought for a moment. "Listen, guys. All we know for sure right now is that this thing is dangerous. Safety is the most important issue right now-"

"Safety! It's already killed Cappy and Dexter! And it tried to kill Sandy! There is no way we're safe with this werewolf in here!" Boss yelled out angrily.

Hamtaro waited a few seconds before speaking, and then said in a calm voice, "I know we're all scared right now. We're going to have to try our best to work our way out of this mess."

Boss mumbled something incomprehensible, but the others gave small nods of agreement.

"Ookyoo . . . ," Penelope said very softly.

"Yeah, ham-girls, if that wolf thing comes after you, I'll protect ya!" Stan said.

Howdy looked back at him. "Easy for you to say. You won't be thinking about that when it's got its fangs in your face."

"ENOUGH!" Boss yelled. "All this is doing is making us even more worried. We need to think up a plan or something to lure that thing outta here."

"What could we do, then?" Panda asked.

"Anything. I don't care. Just no live bait plans. Those are way too risky," Stan said.

Maxwell pondered the topic a moment. "Hmmm . . . hey! I may just have an idea!"

X X X X X X X X X X

The werewolf slowly and silently dropped down into Boss' bedroom. It was hard to see anything in the room, for it was very dark. He could see well enough not to run into anything, though, because his night vision was highly advanced. He sat down on the bed, wondering how it would carry out the plan.

While deciding on a good idea, the werewolf overheard the ham-hams talking outside of the room. He slowly crept up to the door and leaned up against it, putting his ear up against the cold, hard wood to listen. A smirk appeared across his muzzle

_Perfect . . . _

X X X X X X X X X X

"Okay, everyone! It works like this," Panda explained. "First, when the wolf comes down the stairs, Stan and Sandy trip it with her ribbon. Then, it will fall in the basket and Boss and Howdy will pull it up really high with this rope. Then Bijou will pull this other rope and a net will drop from the ceiling right there and we'll catch it!"

Everyone was in their positions, waiting for the werewolf to come walking down the stairs any moment. Little did they know where it really was.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a huge clawed hand exploded through Boss' bedroom door. Gripping the jagged edge of the hole it just made, the werewolf ripped the door from its hinges and threw it aside. Its eyes scanned the room, as though it were looking for something.

"Everybody! RUN!" Boss screamed as he frantically scrambled away from the beast. Everyone else was also in a panic, and it was a mad rush to get as far away from it as possible. As Penelope was running, she collided with the basket they were going to use to hoist up the werewolf. Nearly doing a complete flip, she landed head-first into it.

"Ookwee! Ookwee!" she cried out. The wolf heard it and immediately drove its attention over to her. On the other side of the room, Bijou ran toward the rope and yanked it as hard as possible, lifting Penelope toward the ceiling and keeping the werewolf away from her. But this did not get his attention off Penelope.

"We need to divert its attention from Penelope!" Maxwell said. They looked back at it, and it was circling around the baskets shadow waiting for something to happen.

Pashmina could take it anymore. She ran toward the werewolf, hoping to make it look away. But the werewolf saw her in the corner of his eye, and before she knew it, she was on the ground, an immense pain engulfing her right side. She closed her eyes, as the room around her started to go black . . .

"PASHMINA!" Bijou yelled. The ham-hams watched in horror as the werewolf had exerted all of its power into a swift blow to Pashmina's side, which caused her to collapse onto the floor. The werewolf kicked her aside, and drew its attention back to Penelope.

"Hey, ugly! Pick on someone your own size!" Hamtaro shouted at the wolf, but it wasn't listening. It crouched down and jumped up as high as it could. It came level with Penelope. Before it fell, it latched onto the basket with its teeth. Without notice, the werewolf jerked its head hard, ripping off about half of the basket. The wolf fell to the ground on its feet, and Penelope was left dangling on what was left of her only chance of survival.

"Ookwee! OOKWEE!" She began to scream. Her hand began to slip off of the shredded piece of basket that she was gripping onto for dear life.

The ham-hams were terrified. "Penelope, NO!"

It was too late. Her hand slipped off, and she fell all the way down, directly into the werewolf's jaws . . .

_ccrruncchh– _The remaining ham-hams cringed as they heard the crushing of her bones in its teeth. The werewolf just stood there, soaking up their terror and savoring Penelope's blood. It finally leaped back into the shadows, where it could feast in quiet.


	6. Disbelievance

Chapter 6

The werewolf had completely vanished from the ham-hams' line of sight. They continued to stare at the gruesome sight of the room they were in. The floor under the basket was blood-spattered, the splinters of wood from the door that had been forced open, and Pashmina lying dead on the floor all added to their state of shock.

"No! Pashmina . . . Penelope . . . Me an' Bijou are the only girls left!" said Sandy.

"Let's face it. We've been done in by this rabid monster, and there's almost nothing left that we can do," Boss said sadly.

"Well, there weren't that many to start off with, if you think about it-"

"Howdy! You're not helping!" Hamtaro replied. "Is there some other way that we can get it away from us?"

Maxwell sighed. "It can't be unstoppable. In some werewolf books that I've read, the main characters killed it with something. I just don't remember what."

"Think, Max! You're our last smart guy here. There's got to be something we can do," Boss said.

"I'll look more into it. Before we go anywhere, though, we should to know its location so that we can avoid an encounter," Maxwell told them.

Oxnard gave him a mix of a confused and worried look. "How will we do that?"

Boss interrupted them. "Who cares! We've got no time for doing stuff like that. It'll probably backfire, just like our other plan did."

"But we didn't know the werewolf was in your room! If it had been upstairs, our plan may have worked," Panda explained.

"Well, it didn't, and we can't go back on it now. Penelope's dead, Pashmina's dead, and it's all because of that dumb idea Maxwell came up with.

Maxwell wore a concerned look on his face. "B-b-but-"

"It's too late, now!" Boss said. "They won't be coming back, thanks to you!"

"Boss!" Sandy yelled. "Don't be so hard on Maxy! It wasn't his fault. It was just, like, an accident, that's all."

No one said a word for a few moments, until Panda rose up. "Do you think we should do something with Pashmina?"

"Oh, right." Hamtaro said, looking over at her body lying on the floor.

Sandy and Panda walked over toward Pashmina. They slowly started to pick her up, but Sandy dropped her with a startled scream.

"What's wrong, Sandy?" Panda asked.

Sandy, speaking in short gasps, replied, "S-she's . . . breathing . . ."

"Heke?" The ham-hams looked over at Pashmina, and noticed it also. Her chest was steadily rising up and down, and though it was barely noticeable, she was alive.

"Pashmina, are you there?" Sandy tried to ask her. All she received was a mumble, but everyone was relieved to know that Pashmina would live yet another day.

X X X X X X X X X X

Pashmina squinted her eyes into the bright light of the room. Each of the ham-hams was standing right above her. "W-w-what's going on? Where am I? And why am I on the floor?"

"You passed out. We wanted to make sure you were okay, ham-girl," Stan said.

"Why did I pass out?" she asked, obviously still a bit delirious.

Hamtaro gave her a smile. "The werewolf did it. By the way, I wouldn't move for a bit because I think you may have hurt your side."

"_May_ have?" Boss asked.

"Okay, you did. We washed your scarf for you because it was a bit dirty." Pashmina raised her eyebrows and took off her scarf to look at it. Sure enough, there were some stains on it. But then she noticed something odd about them.

"These look like blood stains," she mentioned. "B-but how-"

"That's what we wanted to tell you, Pashmina. While you were knocked out, something bad happened. Penelope . . .," he hesitated, "She was caught by the werewolf. The blood stains are her's."

Pashmina began to tear up. "No, she isn't! This is just some sick joke your playing on me! Penelope is not dead! Where did you hide her!" The ham-hams just gave her a sad look, and Pashmina finally gave in to the news they just broke to her.

"We're very sorry . . ." Sandy said to her softly.

"It's okay. I . . . just . . .," but couldn't finish her sentence as she stormed out of the room, sobbing uncontrollably.


	7. Hell Feast

Chapter 7

"Pashmina! Don't go!" Hamtaro yelled after her. No answer. He looked over at the other ham-hams, and then called for Pashmina again.

"PASH! Pashmina? You still there?" he continued to shout. He opened his mouth to try again, but was quickly stopped by Boss.

"Hamtaro, don't even bother. She's upset, and we all know it. We can't help it that Penelope was, uh, you know, but she was like Pashmina's baby. How would you feel if you're baby was killed?" Boss said. Hamtaro looked down in shame.

"I-I'm sorry-"

"Don't worry, Hamtaro. It'll be okay," he said.

Maxwell looked up at them both and asked, " Do you think we should go look for her? I mean, It's still not safe to go somewhere alone in here."

"Oh, right," Hamtaro said as he glanced over at the blood-soaked basket, grimaced, then turned back to Maxwell. "We should split up into small groups and search."

"I think I'll stay here," Oxnard murmured.

Boss gave him an annoyed look. "No, you're not. Hamtaro, would you take Oxnard with you?"

"Uh . . . sure, I guess-"

"Great! I'll go with Bijou, Sandy and Maxwell can go together, Stan can be with Howdy . . ."

"What?"

" . . . and Panda can . . ."

"Come with my group. I am NOT getting stuck with Howdy."

" . . . what he said. Search the hallways, rooms, everything. We don't want her to get hurt," Boss explained. The groups split up.

Stan's group went down the hall. They came across the place that Dexter was killed, and could still remember the fear that was in that hallway at the time.

"Dude, let's get out of this hall. It's way creepy," Stan said. They entered the next room to the right, and began to call out for Pashmina.

Boss and Bijou looked through some of the closets in the main room. Boss worked up the nerve to ask Bijou if she liked him, but when he said it she didn't hear him.

"Dang . . . I'll never get that chance again," he mumbled to himself.

Sandy and Maxwell looked through the bedrooms. They went into Boss' room, and noticed the claw marks around the space where the werewolf had entered earlier.

"So that's how it got here," Maxwell said. "If only Boss had locked it . . ."

"I don't think it would have helped. It's an awfully strong creature," she replied. They left the room and started to look in another one.

Hamtaro and Oxnard checked upstairs. They walked down the narrow hallway, and looked in many of the small rooms.

"No one has found her yet. Gosh, I hope she's okay." Hamtaro said.

"I'm sure she's just trying to keep away from us until she feels better. I don't like people around me when I'm sad, either," Oxnard replied.

"Just keep looking. She has to be here somewhere."

They checked in one of the slightly bigger closets, and in the dim light, noticed something peculiar. A furry figure was hunched over, seeming to do something. As Hamtaro and Oxnard listened more carefully, they heard the furry object making a slobbering noise.

"This can't be Pashmina," Hamtaro whispered.

"I hope it isn't what I think it is," Oxnard whispered back.

Hamtaro began to look worried. "I bet it is. I wonder what that noise is that it's making? Is it licking itself?" he asked quietly.

The creature heard them talk, and lifted its ears. Hamtaro and Oxnard completely froze, waiting for it to move. Still leaning over, it slowly turned to look at them and let out a low growl. Its eyes seemed to glow, and its face looked as mean as ever. Then, the two hamsters saw something they probably wished they hadn't. The werewolf's mouth was dripping with blood. It was spilling all over the wood floor, and was encrusted all over its front paws.

Hamtaro and Oxnard took a few steps back, and then ran down the hall screaming like mad. The werewolf turned back to what it was doing, and using its claws, ripped Pashmina's scarf off her neck and threw it aside to get to more meat.


	8. Bloodspray

Chapter 8

Hamtaro and Oxnard jolted down the stairs, and barely missed colliding with Sandy.

"Hey! Like, what's the hurry?" she asked them.

They skidded to a halt. "Upstairs . . . closet . . . scared . . .," Oxnard began to sputter out. Boss and Bijou were seen heading up the staircase.

"What? I don't understand. What are you trying to tell me?" Sandy said.

" . . .blood . . . everywhere . . ."

"Blood? Is everything okay? I hope no one's hurt-"

"The werewolf was in the closet upstairs! And it looked like it was . . . yuck . . . _eating_ someone," Hamtaro explained. "Though, in the dim light, who knows."

"Oh, I hope that's not what it's doing. Did you see who it was? That is so totally gross!" she answered.

"We aren't sure. It's most likely Pashmina. . .," he said sadly. Right then, two horrified screams came from upstairs. There was Boss and Bijou, rushing away from what had frightened them and down the stairs. Now, Maxwell had gathered by Hamtaro, Oxnard and Sandy and saw the terrified couple.

"What's going on? Why are you so scared?" he asked.

"Pashmina's dead!" Boss exclaimed as he and Bijou stopped by everyone else, still breathing hard.

Sandy dropped to her knees and started to cry. "Oh no! No no no _no_! Hamtaro was right!"

Maxwell looked down at her. "Right about what?"

"He said he saw the werewolf in the closet up there. That nasty thing killed her!" she replied, teary-eyed. Stan, Howdy, and Panda walked into the room.

"What's up, ham-dudes?" Stan said. "Everything tight?"

"Pashmina died," Hamtaro said quickly, as if he didn't want him to hear.

"That thing took my girl! If I had the chance, I'd wring its neck-"

"But we can't stop it! It's going to kill us, one by one," Panda said.

"This is terrible! We are down to nine ham-hams now. This can't possibly get worse!" Maxwell said.

"Oh, yes it can . . .," Boss said, staring at something in front of him.

They turned and looked. The werewolf was standing right above Howdy, claws extended. He looked up at it and started to scream, but the werewolf swung its paws down and grabbed his neck. He tried to utter a cry for help, but the wolf increased its grip and Howdy couldn't breathe.

The ham-hams stared on in shock, but then Boss lunged and grabbed onto one of Howdy's legs. He pulled hard trying to make the werewolf let go, but it did not, and began to draw in Howdy closer to it. Boss pulled as hard as he could, digging his feet into the floor for anchorage. The werewolf made a sharp jerk backwards . . . and the unimaginable happened.

RRRRRIIIP

Howdy screamed in pain, and Boss soon realized that he was no longer tugging on Howdy, but was gripping onto one of his disembodied legs. He quickly dropped it and yelled in horror as the spot on Howdy's body where the leg used to be bled profusely across the floor.

The werewolf lightened its grasp on Howdy for a short moment to see what had happened, and Howdy managed to get in a small breath. Moments later, though, it clenched onto him again, this time around his ribcage. With a strong squeeze, the noise of crunching bones was heard as it crushed him completely.

The wolf let go, and Howdy's mangled body fell instantly lifeless to the ground. The ham-hams were backed up against the wall in utter terror and the wolf looked at them menacingly, until it decided to leave them alone and bounded away from the scene once again.

The hamsters slowly walked up to the now-dead Howdy, mouths gaping. They glanced at each other with nervous expressions displayed on their faces.

"Dude, that is the nastiest thing I've seen in my life," Stan mentioned, "next to everything else that's happened tonight."

Everyone seemed to agree with his last statement.

"I know his jokes were annoying and stuff, and sometimes I wanted to kill him myself, but no one, not even Howdy, deserved that," Panda said.

"And Boss didn't help. What the heck were you doing out there? You ripped his leg off," Stan exclaimed, "idiot."

Boss was flabbergasted. "It wasn't all my fault! If that wolf hadn't tugged so hard it wouldn't have happened."

"You had caused him much pain, Boss, before he died. You should be ashamed," Bijou snapped.

"That couldn't have possibly hurt more than getting crushed," Panda winced as he said it.

Boss looked back down at Howdy. "We should bring him outside. We can't leave him here to be eaten by the werewolf. Him and his leg-"

"Stop it, Boss! You're grossing me out!" Sandy said to him. She was looking away from bloody mess.

"I'll bring him out. I need someone else to help me," Panda said.

"Ehhhhh . . . I will, I guess. Sick, sick, sick . . .," Boss mumbled to himself.

They picked him -and his leg- up and dragged him outside, leaving a trail of blood through the tunnel.


	9. Twice the Pain

Chapter 9

The remainder of the group had gathered into one of the rooms down the hall.

". . .six, seven, eight. This does no look good for the ham-ham gang," Stan said.

Sandy was huddled between him and Maxwell, not about to leave their side for any reason. Maxwell had some books he was looking through to find something out about werewolves. Bijou was near Boss and Hamtaro, with Panda not far away.

"We need a new plan, guys," Boss mentioned. "We shouldn't just sit here and wait for it to come get us."

"I think that all we need to do is find a way to kill it. It's the only way we can stop this thing," Panda said.

Maxwell looked up. "I'm looking through this myths and legends book right now. I might find something in here."

"Maybe we could sneak up on it. Then we could stab it or some deal. That would kill it for sure," Boss said.

"I don't know if we have anything sharp enough though. Well, maybe. We've got a safety pin somewhere," Panda suggested.

"Good. Do you know where it is?"

"I believe it's up in the storage room somewhere. We'd need to go in a group, just to be safe."

I think we'll only need about two or three. Three, maybe. Four would be too easy for the werewolf to find us," Boss said. "I'll go up. Who else wants to come?"

Panda was hesitant. "I might-"

"Okay. I want Bijou too," she looked up, slightly surprised, when Boss said that, "just because I want to keep my eye on her." No monkey business down here when we're gone, okay? No leaving the room."

"Uh, Boss, I was just wondering if I could go in Bijou's place. I don't want her to get hurt," Hamtaro said.

"Oh, alright, but you guys had better make sure nothing happens to her. Deal? And once again, no leaving the room for any reason."

"Don't worry. We won't," Sandy reassured him.

They quietly left the room and were out of the other's view.

X X X X X X X X X X

Panda, Boss, and Hamtaro tiptoed down the dark hall. They were extra cautious, and listened for any sounds that could be the wolf. They arrived at the door to the storage room, paused for a moment, then Panda creaked open the door. He stuck his head through the doorway and looked around the room to see if the werewolf was hiding somewhere. He glanced to the right because he thought he saw something, and his eyes widened as he saw a huge paw coming straight toward his face.

It clamped around his head, and Panda started to grab wildly at the door frame. Hamtaro and Boss couldn't see what happened but could tell something was wrong. They peered into to room and were terrified to see what was going on.

Panda was trying to scream, but the wolf's paw muffled out the sound. The werewolf yanked on Panda, and he fell to the ground. The beast dragged him across the floor until it reached a corner of the room that was too dark to see.

A series of growling noises were heard from the back of the room, then screams of pain echoed through the corridor. Seconds later, Panda's yelps stopped abruptly accompanied by the noise of tearing flesh.

Though they couldn't see it, Hamtaro and Boss feared the worst.

"Scratch the plan! Let's just get the heck outta here!" Boss yelled. They rushed through the hall, past Snoozer . . . wait. Snoozer's sock was there, but Snoozer was nowhere to be found. They glanced around the area, but there were no signs of him.

"I sure hope he's okay . . .," Hamtaro said nervously. He lifted up the sock and dumped out what was in it, but stiffened up as he realized his mistake. Stuffed inside the sock were bones of all variations, and most were bloody with raw muscle and tendon attached to them still. One of the bones had a patch of fur on it, and even though it was hard to tell through the blood, there was no doubt it was Snoozer.

"I can't take this anymore!" Hamtaro cried. He bolted down the stairs, Boss not far behind.

X X X X X X X X X X

"Where's the safety pin? Couldn't you find it?" Oxnard asked.

"And where's Panda!" Sandy asked. "He's alright . . . isn't he?"

They could tell from Boss' demeanor that he was not, and she began to cry more.

"This is hopeless. I don't think that monster can be stopped," Maxwell moped.

Boss looked over at him. "That's not the only thing that happened. We ran by Snoozer's sock-"

"Oh no! Please don't tell me he's . . .," Bijou began.

Boss lowered his head. "You guessed it."

The atmosphere in the room was definitely solemn, due to the recent losses. No one said a word for what seemed like ages, and the only thing heard was Maxwell flipping the pages in his book.

Bijou sat over in the corner, all by herself. She couldn't help but think that there was something she could do to help, but she'd never done a thing. Only the time that night when she pulled the basket with Penelope in it up to the ceiling, but that was almost more of a death sentence than a rescue.

_There must be something I can do,_ she thought to herself. Maybe, just maybe, she could sneak upstairs and get the pin that Hamtaro, Boss and Panda originally went up for. That would be a great favor to them.

She confirmed it in her mind that she would go upstairs and get it, for Panda's sake. She snuck through the shadows, and then out the door unnoticed.


	10. Fatal Decision

Chapter 10

Before Bijou had left the room, she picked up one of Maxwell's books to look through it. Finding a page that looked useful, she read it carefully, then tore it out to bring with her upstairs. While she was sneaking out of the room, though, she didn't notice it slip from her hand onto the floor of the room.

She tiptoed all the way to the staircase. She looked up into the darkness, and now regretted leaving the safety of the other hams. Swallowing hard, she began up the stairs.

It was creepy being alone at that time of night, especially when the thought kept coming to her mind that the murderous beast was out to get her. Then, Bijou noticed something lying on the ground, shoved into a corner, that appeared strange. She approached it, picked it up, and as she was holding it, came to realize that it was a_ bone_. She dropped it, trying hard to hold in her scream.

"That must have been what Boss was talking about . . . with Snoozer," Bijou thought to herself.

The hall seemed to last forever. Each room she passed made her think of one of her deceased friends . . . the cold, dark feeling of the empty space that should be taken up. A tear trickled down her face, but she wiped it away, knowing that the past could not be changed and she would not complete her cause of coming upstairs if she stopped to mourn.

Finally, she reached the storage room. There were scratch marks all over the door frame, and from the size of them she could tell that they were not the wolf's but of one of the ham-hams. She stepped into the room, and began to look around for the needle.

She looked everywhere that there was sufficient light for her to see. The needle was nowhere to be found. Giving up in that particular spot, she ventured into the darker portion of the room.

A strange smell surrounded her. She sniffed the air, trying to figure out what it was. It wasn't a bad scent, just something she had never smelled before. The further she went, the stronger it got.

Suddenly, she tripped over something. It was about the size of herself, though slightly bigger. She was lying on her side, looking at the object, with her lower body resting on part of it. The strange smell seemed to be coming from it.

She looked up her leg, and noticed a thick, dark liquid seeping from the object she was laying on. Then, she turned her eyes back, and to her horror, made out a face. The dark circles around the eyes showed that it could only be one person . . . Panda. His mouth was gaping open, and his face still expressed the look of being taken by surprise.

She looked over at the rest of him, and . . . there wasn't anything there. Her legs had been lying on Panda's own entrails the entire time. The werewolf had disemboweled him.

Bijou scrambled to her feet, shrieking insanely. She sprinted towards the door, and was almost out when something stopped her in her tracks. Standing in the doorway, was the werewolf. Bijou was so startled she lost her footing and fell on her back. The wolf took a couple steps forward, then grabbed her by the neck and held her up to the light.

"D-d-don't . . . k-kill . . . m-m-meee . . .," she sputtered out. The wolf narrowed its eyes at her and stared blankly.

" . . .p-p-please . . .," she begged. Then, to her surprise, it set her back on the ground. The werewolf looked down at her, and Bijou stared back, wondering why it spared her. She turned away to leave, but her breath seized up as something sharp struck her side. Looking down, she realized that the wolf had sank its teeth deep into her, and wasn't about to let go.

The pain was too intense for her even to scream as the wolf's fangs dug deeper into her. The same thick liquid that she saw surrounding Panda appeared to be coming out of herself now, but she didn't seem to care, because the world around her was turning black and there was no escaping it.

X X X X X X X X X X

Sandy was peering nervously around the room. Maxwell saw her, and was curious about what was spooking her.

"What's wrong, Sandy?" he asked.

She looked over at him. "Nothing . . . I mean, uh-"

"Yeah?"

"I don't see Bijou anywhere."

Shocked, Boss quickly rose to his feet. "What do you mean you don't see her?"

"I don't think she's here-"

"SHE LEFT?" he yelled out angrily.

Sandy started to shake a bit, because Boss was standing right over her and his expression was intimidating. "I . . . think she might have."

Boss turned away and began to say things under his breath. "Oh, Bijou! Why'd you go? You'd have been so much safer if you had just stayed . . ."

Stan turned toward Sandy. "Don't feel bad, sis. It ain't your fault."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't notice-"

Oxnard butted in. "She might be in real trouble right now, maybe even hurt."

Boss, on the other hand, was still stampeding all over the room. "And she might also be DEAD!" And with that, he raised up his hand as if to hit Stan. Maxwell quickly ran over and grabbed hold of Boss' arm to stop him.

"Get a hold of yourself, Boss!" Stan said, holding his arms above his face.

"How could you not see her walk out the door? Honestly, a white hamster would stick out like a sore thumb in this dark room!"

"Geez! I'm like, sorry Boss, I just thought that maybe you should have spotted her, too-"

"Guys! Stop fighting!" Hamtaro yelled. "Besides, it isn't Sandy's fault. We _all_ should have been paying attention to each other. What in the world could she have left for?"

"Suicide attempt . . .," Stan mumbled.

"Bijou wouldn't do that. She must have gone up for a good reason, or she wouldn't have gone." Maxwell said. Hands on his forehead, he sat down, thinking furiously about why Bijou would have gone out on her own.

Oxnard was looking around the room when he saw a slightly crumpled piece of paper lying on the ground. "Hey, what is this doing on the floor?"

Maxwell stood up and picked it up to examine it. "Hey, this looks like a page from one of my books!" After looking through it carefully, he noticed the title at the top of the page. It read, "WEREWOLVES".

"Oh my gosh! This is what I've been looking for the whole time. But why is it out of my book?" He read through the article, and found something else. "This says that the only way to kill a werewolf is with silver . . ."

Suddenly, it came to him that Bijou must have read the page, and knowing that the pin upstairs was made of silver, she must have gone up to get it for them. "No!" he cried, dropping the ripped page. "If only she had told us! We could have helped!"

"What are you talking about, Max?" Boss questioned.

"The pin upstairs that we went to get . . . it was made of silver. She must have gone up to get it for us."

Boss took in a deep breath. "The wolf is upstairs though. Oh, god dang it, this is just like her! Doing something without thinking . . ."

"We can only hope she made it out safely," Hamtaro said glumly.

Oxnard gulped. "Uh huh. Maybe she-"

His sentence was cut off short by the sound of heavy footsteps outside the door.


	11. To Shreds

Chapter 11

Everyone froze as the footsteps got closer to the door. Right when they were directly in front of the doorway, they stopped. Nothing happened for what seemed like hours, but all of a sudden a huge force pounded the door, breaking loose a few splinters of wood. It continued, and the swiping of claws and slamming pressure was heard -and felt- in the room.

"Aaaagggghhhh! It must be the werewolf! Quick, everyone put something in front of the door to block it!" Boss commanded. They each scrambled to a part of the room to find something to block the door with. Stan and Sandy carried an endtable and placed it by the door, then Boss pushed a large dresser by it. Hamtaro came by with a chair, but right after he had put it there the werewolf burst open the door, causing the dresser to fall - right on top of Hamtaro.

"Hamtaro! You okay?" Oxnard yelled to him. A series of grunts proved that he was at least still alive, but he couldn't hardly breathe under the weight of it.

"We'll get him out, but we've got bigger problems right now!" Sandy said, looking up at the wolf who was now standing right over her. "_Way _bigger."

"Sandy! Get out of there!" Stan screamed at her. The werewolf opened his mouth, exposing every razor-sharp tooth to Sandy. It crouched back, ready to strike at any moment. The beast lurched forward, but before it could bite her, Stan jumped at her and knocked her to the side. The top of the werewolf's muzzle hit Stan, sending him flying into the air. But before he fell back down to his probable death, he grabbed a ceiling rafter and hung on for dear life.

The werewolf soon lost interest in him and turned its attention to Hamtaro and Boss, who were helping Hamtaro out from under the dresser. Boss saw it and quickly sprung away sprung away, but Oxnard continued to attend to Hamtaro.

Oxnard noticed that Boss had left him. "Hey, I'm gonna need some help here-"

The wolf grabbed Oxnard with its paws. With a sharp movement, it ripped its claws across his body, leaving huge gashes and taking out fur with it. Again, the werewolf latched its claws to Oxnard. It continued to rip out fur, then skin, and finally layers of underlying flesh. The beast had literally torn him to pieces.

Oxnard's bloody corpse fell to the ground. The remainder of the ham-hams stared on in horror, and as if to add insult to injury, the werewolf ripped off a piece of meat from what was felt of Oxnard and tossed it into its mouth.

Hamtaro was still stuck under the dresser, and could breathe a little better because Boss and Oxnard had released some pressure from it. He looked down at the opening, and saw something thick and red seep in towards him. He took one sniff, and immediately knew what it was from earlier that night.

The werewolf turned towards the rest of the group. They backed towards the wall, praying that they wouldn't be ripped to shreds by this beast. As it moved closer, it saw Stan slipping off of the rafter. It turned its attention to him, and Stan swallowed hard as he figured he was done for. His last finger let go of the board, and he dropped down towards the werewolf. Instead of doing the same thing to Stan as it did Penelope, it took its paw and batted him off to side. He hit the wall with great force, and slumped to the floor.

Sandy was terrified. "Stan, _noooooo!_"

The wolf slowly walked up to Stan, looking ready to kill him if he wasn't already dead. He opened his eyes, and became aware of the fact that the werewolf would probably tear him up any moment. He raised his arms above his head to block the blow, but before it hit him, the werewolf was suddenly knocked to the side. Stan glanced over to his right, and on top of the beast was Hamtaro. He had escaped from underneath the heavy dresser, and had shoved the werewolf away to save Stan.

"Stan, _everyone_! You need to get out of here!" Hamtaro yelled.

Boss looked at Hamtaro like he was insane. "Hamtaro, you'll never beat it by yourself-"

"Just go!" He shouted back. "I'll take care of it!" Not wanting to argue, they picked up Stan and left the room, leaving Hamtaro with the werewolf.

In the hallway, it came to them that if the werewolf was with Hamtaro, it may be their only chance to get the silver pin. "You know," Maxwell said, "if the werewolf is in that room with Hamtaro, now would be the perfect chance to get that needle."

"Great idea," Boss replied. "Let's go and get that pin before the werewolf gets to _us_."

Back in the room, Hamtaro struggled with the wolf. It was having difficulty getting up with Hamtaro laying on it. He bit and scratched at the werewolf, but his efforts of hurting it were doing very little. Getting peeved, the wolf tried to snap at Hamtaro. Its neck couldn't reach and Hamtaro continued his assault on the beast.

The werewolf stuck its paws on the ground, and finally got enough balance to lift itself back up to its feet. Hamtaro could no longer hold on to the wolf's fur and dropped to the floor. He looked directly up at the werewolf, and from the expression on its face, could tell that he was done for.

X X X X X X X X X X

The four that were left had just entered the storage room upstairs when they heard a pained scream come from downstairs. In their heads, they knew it could only be one person: Hamtaro.

"_No! _Not Hamtaro! I told him it was a bad idea, but did he listen? NO!" Boss whined.

"Hamtaro was, like, the leader around here. He . . . w-was . . .s-s-s . . .," Sandy turned away and cried on Stan's shoulder. He glanced over at her, then placed his arm around her to comfort her. Boss turned his head to the ceiling, closed his eyes, and just stood there blankly. Maxwell was sitting on the floor, sadness overcoming him.

"I'll miss Hamtaro. It won't be the same here without him," he said.

"It won't the same without _everyone_," Stan complained.

"I say it won't be the same here, _period_. If we make it though this, we'll have to relocate the clubhouse. I won't ever come back here, not after what has happened," Boss said.

"Why . . . why did this have to happen to us?" Maxwell said.

"Maybe it was fated," Boss said. He paused for a few moments. "Oh yeah, do you guys know where that pin is?"

"Oh, that's right. We came up here to get the needle. I believe it's on the far end of the room," Maxwell said. They got up and started to walk in that direction, but noticed a trail of blood leading off into the dark.

"What the . . .?" Stan began.

"Who's could this be? Let's follow it," Maxwell said. The hamsters walked along the path of blood deeper into the dark room. It seemed to stop at a point, and they couldn't tell what it was at first, but when they got a bit closer it was obvious.

"Hey, that lookswwwWWAAAHHH!" Boss let out a startled scream. There, in the corner, was Bijou. She looked normal everywhere except for her side, where the werewolf had bitten off a giant chunk of her abdomen. She lay propped up against the wall, and there was no way she could still be alive by the look of her injury.

"Oh, my poor Bijou! What a terrible way to die! No one deserved this!" Boss dropped to his knees and buried his face in his paws. "That wolf is going to pay . . .," he said, teeth clenched. Sandy looked at the horrific scene for a few seconds, then turned away, disgusted by the gruesome sight.

Maxwell saw a small glitter in the corner of his eye, and when he looked over, he saw what they had been looking for the whole time. The needle.

"Look! Look what I found!" he shouted in joy. The needle was made of silver, which was the only thing that they could use to kill the werewolf. He picked it up, and examined it just to make sure that it was really made of silver, and it was. He grinned, and showed the other three hams.

A smirk appeared over Boss' face. "Good. That werewolf isn't going to get away with what it's done to us . . ."

The only thing that they needed to do now was seek out the wolf and stab it, for this would get rid of it for good. But little did they know, it would take a bit more than just that.

X X X X X X X X X X

STAY TUNED FOR THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS!

Also, after I have posted the last chapter, I will also put up a special "Chapter 14" with a bunch of fun facts about the process of writing this fanfic, and even some information about a future Hamtaro fanfic that will be posted up on later this summer!


	12. The Werewolf Speaks

Chapter 12

They turned back toward the door, Maxwell with the needle in his paw. Then, a strange noise was heard from underneath the floorboards.

Sandy's ears perked up. "Did you hear that?"

"You bet I did," Boss said. "I hope it's not the-"

Suddenly, the werewolf's clawed hand burst out of the floor right under Maxwell. He dropped the needle, and it clanked to the ground and rolled away. The werewolf clamped his hand on Maxwell's foot and began to drag him into the hole it had created. It pulled him in before the ham-hams even had time to react.

The other hamsters gathered around the hole, and though they could not see what was going on, they could surely guess by the noises heard below. Maxwell started to scream madly, then there was a loud roar made by the wolf, a rip, and then silence.

The last three held their breath and backed away.

Sandy was in tears. "I can't believe it . . . what will we do without Max? What will _I_ do without Max? I don't think I can take this anymore," she cried.

Nothing seemed to happen for a while, but right when Boss opened his mouth to speak, they saw something appear out of the space in the floor. The werewolf's bloodied hand reached out from the hole, and it pulled itself out.

The hamsters turned and ran, but not before the wolf ran ahead. It stopped directly in front of them, gazing down. The others skidded to a halt and ran the other direction, but Sandy tripped and fell on her face before she could do a thing.

It picked her up by the back of her neck and held her to its eyes. She yelled in terror as the wolf slammed her to the ground. She tried to run, but it stomped its foot down on her leg and she couldn't move. Before she knew it, she was lying in a pool of her own blood, a horrible pain taking control of her. Stan just stared on, and so did Boss, and Sandy just laid there to die . . .

"SANDY!"

"W-wha-"

"Snap out of it! You passed out," Stan told her.

"But . . . where is the werewolf? I thought it killed me," she said.

"Not you. It killed Maxwell," he said. "You must have been dreaming."

"Oh no, now I remember it! Not Maxy . . . no," she said. "This is a nightmare!"

"I know. He was the smart guy here."

"What happened after I fainted?" Sandy asked her brother.

"We've got no time. The wolf is still in here somewhere," Boss said, interrupting them.

Stan nodded his head. "Right. We've got to find that needle again."

He helped Sandy to her feet, and they scoured the room for the needle. The first place they searched was by the hole in the floor, because that was where Maxwell had dropped it.

"It couldn't have gone too far," Boss said. "I sure wish there was a better light source back here. I can't hardly see a thing." He walked toward a dark corner and peered around. Suddenly, he saw a pair of eyes staring right down at him. The werewolf reached down with its paws to grab him, but Boss made a quick leap backwards and ran towards Stan and Sandy.

"Get out of here!" he yelled to them.

"Is it the-"

"Yes! We gotta leave . . . wait a sec . . ." The gleam of a sharp object caught their eyes.

"The needle!" Stan yelled. "Get it, Boss!"

Boss lunged forward and grabbed it in his paws. The werewolf had followed Boss to the other two hams, and was standing right over them. Seeing it, Stan and Sandy both ran in a different direction. The werewolf, remembering Sandy as the one that hit it in the nose, bounded in her direction.

"Sandy, _run_!" Stan yelled after her. Heart pounding, she sprinted away from the wolf, but it was catching up to her fast. She reached a dead end.

_This is it, _she thought. The werewolf stopped right over her, and smiled because it would get its small bit of revenge in just a few seconds. Just before it pounced onto her, a bloody needle shot through its abdomen. Boss was behind it, holding the needle in place.

The wolf let out a loud howl, then collapsed to the floor.

"Sandy . . . are you okay?" Boss said under his heavy breaths.

Sandy was relieved. "Yes, thanks to you."

Stan ran up to her and hugged her tight. "Sandy! Sandy! I thought you were a goner!"

She smiled and hugged him back. "I'm fine. You should be thanking Boss." Boss stepped over the werewolf and stopped in front of Stan and Sandy.

"I looks like we're the last hams left here, huh?" he commented.

"It's unbelievable. Nearly fifteen hamsters . . . reduced to three," Stan said sadly, "by a single creature."

"I know. It's like a horrible nightmare. I keep thinking that I'm going to wake up in my own house, and everything will be fine, but it's not. We'll never see the other ham-hams again," Sandy said.

Suddenly, Stan cocked his head as he saw a large shadow appear over Boss. "Hey, Boss . . . do you see that?"

He had just noticed it too. His blood ran cold and his eyes opened wide, and he slowly turned back to see what it was. Above him, he saw a pair of silver, glowing eyes staring down, looking pretty mad. The now-conscious werewolf grabbed the needle from its stomach and held it high in the air, the point facing down. Before he could even move, the werewolf thrust the needle directly into Boss' forehead. The needle protruded out the back of his skull, soaked with his blood. Boss twitched a moment, and then fell limp.

The two that were left were so frightened they could only make a squeak. They quickly realized that the wolf could attack them an moment, so they turned and quickly scampered away.

They sprinted nonstop to the door until they both heard a low, raspy voice behind them.

"_Stop . . ."_

"Who . . . who was that?" Stan asked nervously.

"_I am the werewolf."_

This was unbelievable. "Wh-why haven't you spoken before?" Stan asked, looking towards it.

"_I couldn't. When the other hamster had stabbed me, he released me of the power that blocked my ability to speak."_

"But, I thought silver was supposed to kill werewolves," Sandy said.

"_I am no ordinary werewolf. Unlike most, I have to be stabbed through the heart to die. Even so, silver does damage to me, resulting in my collapse when Boss sent the needle through my stomach."_

"Wait . . . how do you know Boss' name?" Stan asked it suspiciously.

"_I have always known his name. I know all of your names," _it explained,_ "Stan."_

"B-but h-h-how-"

"_We have met before. You know _my_ name, also. Same with Sandy."_

They were shocked. Stan turned to his sister. "Do you know anything about this?"

"No. I don't know what it's talking about."

"_Of course you do. We have had great times, in the long ago . . ."_

"In the long ago? What do you mean?" Stan questioned it.

"_Before the fateful night."_

X X X X X X X X X X

One chapter to go!


	13. The Curse Lives On

Chapter 13 - The Final Chapter

"What happened?" they asked in unison. Now that they could communicate with the werewolf, they felt less unnerved by it.

"_I was on a walk out in the forest that day. The ambience was calming, so I payed almost no attention to my surroundings. Then, out of the brush, came a growl. I figured it was simply a dog, so I kept on my way."_

The werewolf's story interested Stan and Sandy, so they continued to listen.

"_The creature in the bushes lept toward me, and pushed me to the ground. It pinned me in place and I had nowhere to go. It sliced open my arm, and it took some of the blood from a wound on its own body and smeared it in and around my newly formed cut._ _It took me until this point to realize_ _that this strange being was some form of wolf-creature, and it looked like it was dying. The wound looked as if it were some sort of bullet hole, and it went right through its chest."_

Sandy spoke up. "So you were attacked by another werewolf-"

"_I was not a werewolf at the time . . . yet. Since lycanthropy is spread through_ _blood-to-blood contact, it must have been passing its trait to me._ _Seconds afterward, it fell to the ground and died. The werewolf slowly changed back into its original hamster form as I watched on curiously."_

The two looked confused.

"_That very night, I started feeling sick and disorientated. I didn't know what was going on, so I went over to one of my friend's houses to talk to her about it. She said I was just getting some type of the flu and that I should lay down, so I did. Night fell, and I absolutely couldn't sleep. The pain was getting worse."_

"How bad was it?" Stan asked it.

"_Like the devil himself was tearing up my insides. I stumbled into her bathroom to see if she had anything to relieve the pain, but before I found anything, I passed out. The next morning, I woke up in the woods by her house. I had blood all over my hands and face, and had no idea where it came from. I went back into my friend's place to check on her."_

The siblings looked intrigued, so the werewolf continued to talk.

"_I found her in her bedroom. She was completely ripped apart; many of the pieces were scattered around the bed, and some were around elsewhere in the room. The sight sickened me, and the only thing I could really recognize was her hat, but even that was torn to shreds. I looked back down at my bloody paws, and discovered that the blood on them matched the scent of the blood in the room. _I _had to have killed her that night, but I kept denying it. I would never murder such a dear friend. I checked out the room some more, and found claw marks all over the place and bloody pawprints all over the floor."_

"That is like what happened here tonight . . . sort of," Stan mentioned.

"_I had transformed into the werewolf that night. I could transform into the werewolf shape whenever I felt like doing so. Recently, hamsters would wake to find someone they cared for ripped to shreds in their own home._ _Or cage, for that matter. No one knows what has been going on. But I know. Even so, it took me much time to finally control the power I had obtained."_

Stan and Sandy still looked frightened in the eyes of the werewolf. Stan looked up at it and asked, "So, if you could control the power, then why did you try to kill us all?"

"_The wolf's instincts still overpowered me. I was conscious of what I was doing, but I still did it. Just lately, I had lost my ability to transform whenever I wanted to. I was to remain as the beast forever. I was a bloodthirsty monster. When Cappy walked right in front of me in the woods, I lost control of myself and pounced. After I had killed him, I ate his corpse, and the flesh was so good I had to have more."_

The two grimaced at his last statement.

"_I knew that the rest of you would be in the clubhouse, so I snuck inside. Unluckily for you, it lead to one of the rooms. I saw Panda walk by, but I saved my chance to go after him for another time. Later, another group of ham-hams walked by, but this time I could not resist myself. I took out the one with the tie."_

"Dexter . . ."

"_Yes. I tried to kill you," it said, pointing to Sandy, "The book was a decent use of defense. I hope you know that hurt like hell. Then after the book incident, things started to heat up. Penelope was fun to kill, along with Pashmina. By then I had eaten my fill of meat for the night, so I stalked just to kill. Howdy's death was amusing, and then I got Snoozer. He was easy. Panda fell right into my little trap before I slaughtered him, and Bijou was stupid enough to leave the protection of her fellow hams-"_

"How could you do such a thing to us?" they asked.

"_You don't understand the feeling of taking the life of another living soul. Oxnard died trying to save his best friend, who ended up getting killed by me anyway. You, Stan, saved your sister again from sure death, and that was brave of you indeed. I should have swallowed you when you fell, but I wasn't exactly thinking straight so I batted you aside. Then came Hamtaro. Oh, the hero. Everyone's hero. I was so satisfied with myself after I killed that little son of a-"_

"But Hamtaro was nice. He would never do what you have done, not even if he was a werewolf." They noticed the werewolf was getting a bit more frustrated as they continued the conversation.

"_I don't give a dang. I hate the heroes; they're always saving people. They have no one to turn to when they're in trouble themselves, so they are fun to take out. Oh yes, and then you smart alecks decided to go get that needle to kill me, but it didn't work_, _did it? Because here I am now, talking to the two survivors of my killing spree."_

It was all coming clear to the two now. The only thing they didn't get was how it knew their names. Sandy decided to ask it. "If we know your name, then who are you?"

The werewolf smiled, because he had been awaiting this question._ "Who am I? Why, I am the hamster you fools would often turn to for advice. Advice in your times of need. And keep in mind that Snoozer is dead."_

Stan pondered it for a moment. One person came to mind, but he couldn't picture that certain hamster doing such a thing.

"_Can't figure it out? I ran off topic when you tried to talk to me. I'd take my occasional nap, too."_

"No . . . it can't be. Are . . . are you . . . Elder Ham?" Stan asked.

The werewolf let out a deep laugh. _"Ha, ha! I figured you'd get it sooner or later."_

The news was inconceivable. The two's minds would not accept this information. "No . . . you're lying to us. Who are you really?" The werewolf's voice sounded nothing like Elder Ham's. "I thought we were your friends-"

"_I have spoken the truth. I hid my lycanthropy from you ham-hams for the last couple months by acting as normal as possible. It is surprising how much you can hide feelings of hate and detest from a bunch of gullible hamsters."_

They couldn't believe it. All this time they thought he was their friend, and he turned around and massacred them. "Why did you do this to us?"

"_It was all the feeling, my 'friend'. When I was in this form, I felt so . . . young. It was fantastic. Being able to run faster than an athlete, the immense strength I had bottled under my thick gray coat, it was great."_

One other question still lingered in the sibling's minds. Stan was brave enough to ask. "About your friend that you found dead in her house . . . what was her name?"

Elder Ham smiled. _"Her name? She was a dear friend of mine. I'd visit every once in a while, and you've met her, too. Have you ever wondered why you haven't seen Aunti Viv in a while?"_

No - not Aunti Viv. Elder Ham had taken her with his deadly spree, also.

"_She was the only one I regretted killing. No one knows what happened to her that night - until now, that is. But not for long, because as soon as I kill you two, the secret will be lost once again."_

Stan and Sandy gasped loudly then turned and ran, but not before Stan grabbed the bloody needle from the floor and carried it with him. Elder Ham went right after them. _"You can't run from me!"_

They darted down the hall as fast as they could, and Elder Ham smashed through the doorway after them. They reached the staircase, but Stan didn't stop fast enough and tripped, taking out Sandy with him. They tumbled down the stairs all the way to the bottom, hitting the ground with a loud thud. They got up and sprinted toward the empty bedrooms in the downstairs hallway.

Elder Ham lost sight of them. His silver eyes scanned the room, and he tried to sniff them out. He found it and followed it down the hallway. The siblings tried to be as quiet as possible, but they knew it wasn't working because their heavy breathing was clearly audible. They could hear the heavy footfalls of the monster now, as it got closer and closer to them.

"_When I find you two, I'm going to rip out your intestines and wear them around my neck! Then I'll use your skins as some great fur attire for myself!"_

They could not believe one of their trusted friends was saying this to them. They envisioned his death threats inside their heads, and then tried to erase their memory of the awful pictures that they were conjuring up.

The footsteps stopped outside the door, then Elder Ham roared and ripped open the door. Stan and Sandy cowered in the corner.

"_There's no escaping now, hams! Say your prayers!"_

Just when all hope seemed to be lost, Stan remembered that he had brought down the silver needle with him. He picked it back up and recalled the werewolf's words:

" _. . . I have to be stabbed through the heart to die . . ."_

Elder Ham crept back onto his haunches, preparing to strike. Stan held the needle behind his backs. His eyebrows were furrowed and his teeth clenched. The werewolf took one final leap forward for the kill . . .

"_Arrrroooaaaahhhh!"_ Elder Ham howled and widened his eyes as a sharp object was forced through his chest. Stan was holding the needle in front of him, the top part unseen because it was lodged into the werewolf. Elder Ham just stood there, trying hard to suck in breaths of air. At last, he fell to the ground.

Stan pulled the needle free from his chest. Elder Ham was on the floor, inches from death. He said one last thing to Stan.

"_You have impressed me, one with tiger stripes. Now that I am left on the floor dying, I would like to do one thing . . ."_

He took his claws and swiped them across Stan's arm, leaving a deep gash. Elder Ham then put his paw on his stab wound, wiping up blood from it. He laid his bloody paw on Stan's cut, and rubbed it around.

"_I just thought I'd pass on the favor . . ."_

With his last statement, Elder Ham fell limp. He was dead for good.

Stan looked down at his cut. "Sandy . . . I'm a werewolf . . ."

Her eyes got teary. "Oh no - this isn't good. Unless you can control it . . . "

" . . . there's nothing I can do. I won't be able to go home again. Not while I'm a werewolf. What would Noel do?"

"Stan . . . does that mean I can't see you, either?"

"It would be a risk. If I can't control the wolf's instincts, I might hurt you without thinking. It wouldn't be safe."

"Why did Elder Ham have to do that to you? Why couldn't he have just died?" Sandy cried.

Stan started to say something, but didn't finish. "I . . . agh!"

"What is it?"

" . . . nothing. Forget it." Stan said, his hand on the claw marks that Elder Ham had given him before he died.

Sandy stared at him for a while. He looked like he was in pain, but she figured it was just from his wound. She turned to hug him goodbye, but shrieked and backed off as he growled in return. "Stan - are you okay?"

"I think the transformation is already starting, sis. I need to leave before you get hurt!" he said to her.

"No, Stan! Don't leave me here alone! Please-"

"It's too late! I need to go before I completely change-"

He ran through the doorway, and Sandy tried to follow but was stopped by the door. She slumped against the wall, and began crying for her brother to come back. "Stan . . . don't go! Why did you leave me alone!"

Stan ran to the clubhouse's exit. As he traveled down the tunnel leading outside, his nose started to hurt badly. He covered it with his paws to see if he was bleeding, but when he took them off, there wasn't any blood. Instead, his nose had turned black and rough. He looked down at his paws again, only to realize they had grown considerably and had razor sharp claws on them. Stan then closed his eyes, hoping to open them and everything would be normal. When he had opened them again, they were that of a werewolf. His new silver eyes allowed him to see clearly in the dark tunnel, and he continued to run.

His fur was steadily growing gay and shaggy. His arms and legs got longer, his ears turned pointy, and his front teeth had grown into menacingly sharp fangs. Before he knew it, he was on all fours, bounding out of the clubhouse door into the forest to someday pass on the favor to another hamster.

THE END

X X X X X X X X X X


	14. Surprise Visit

Chapter 14?

I decided to surprise you all with a new ending sequence following the last chapter. No one, not even some of my closest FanFictioners were informed of this, so here we go.

X X X X X X X X X X

Sandy lay alone in her cage. It was simply unreal; all her friends were dead. Stan? She wasn't exactly sure. He had bounded into the darkness of the forest that night, and she had not seen him since. She had overheard Noel and Hillary talk the day after the incident. Noel was in a panic because he had woken up that morning and Stan was gone. She helped him search the house for the longest time, and he didn't turn up.

_Because he's a werewolf, Sandy thought to herself. He's probably out killing every innocent ham that crosses his path._

Not only that, but Hillary had told her that Laura and Kana's hamsters were missing also, along with some of their friends. It was all baffling to her human, but Sandy knew every last detail of the past events. At times it was a blur, but often at night every minute if it seemed to be happening all over again. First, Cappy's body in the forest . . . Bijou, Penelope and Pashmina . . . Maxwell . . . oh, how she missed her closest friend. Maxwell was always in a cheery mood, and willing to do anything with Sandy. They were an inseparable couple, until now. His death was the only thing that tore them apart.

A tear fell down her cheek. She hoped to wake up, discovering that this was all a horrid nightmare. But she touched her paw to her cheek, and felt the moisture on the fingertips. It was all real. They would never return. She looked over at Hillary's bed, where her owner would usually be but instead was spending the night at Noel's. She probably did not know the pain of losing a close friend.

Sandy was startled by a noise at the windowsill by her cage. She turned to face in that direction, if anything was there, but she saw nothing. Thinking it was her imagination, she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep for the night.

The noise was heard again. This time she called out 'Who's there?' and once more turned to face the window. Her eyes widened as the dark silhouette of a large figure, in her standards, anyway, was sitting on the ledge outside the glass. She blinked twice and looked again, but the figure was gone.

_Strange, she thought to herself. What could that be?_

Something had caught the corner of her eye. Looking again at the glass panes, she saw the figure again. And this time it was trying to force open the window open. Sandy went into a panic. What was this thing? She crawled into the corner of her cage, hoping whatever it was wouldn't see her. She wished now that her human was with her to shoo the intruder.

At last, the window was pushed open. As the figure moved into the moonlight shining through the opening, she gasped when she realized what it was. There was no mistake; it had long, pointy ears, muscular arms, and ragged fur. And to top it all, a demonic, toothy grin. It could only be one person:_ Stan_.

He jumped across the gap to her cage. Sandy cowered by her house, thinking she wouldn't be seen in the darkness. The werewolf immediately began sniffing around the outer edge of her cage, trying to catch a scent. She had to cover her mouth with her paws to keep from being heard, but it was almost no use for she was breathing like a runner after a marathon.

Stan halted at the door to her abode. Sandy froze in terror. What would her brother do to her? He shoved his muzzle under the cage door and forced it quickly upwards, then leaped inside, the door coming down with a loud _cliiiiingk. _He slowly walked over to her hiding spot, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. Sandy began to cry in fear. His heavy footsteps rattled the floor, each one getting closer to his frightened sister. Finally, he stopped in his position, towering above her. She turned away, preparing to be struck hard by an unholy blow.

It never happened. She tensed up when she felt something on her shoulder. She shifted her eyes, only to find it was the werewolf's paw. She looked at it for a moment, noticing that it seemed to mean no harm.

"_Look at me."_

Her eyes widened, and she froze in her position, her eyes still gazing at the gentle paw. "D-did y-you just-"

"_I said LOOK UP AT ME!" Stan took his other paw and grabbed her chin, pulling it so that she looked him in the eyes. His voice was strange; it no longer had its young tone. Now, it was more deep and malicious, every word seeming to have a growl to it. _

He let go of her chin, and she gulped. "Wh-what do you want, Stan?"

He raised his eyebrows. _"You knew it was me? I'm impressed."_

"Of course. When Elder Ham transmitted the curse to you, I knew that you must have already transformed. You are, like, the only werewolf in the whole city," she said to him. "What are you here for?"

"_I want to know . . ." he said rather nervously, ". . . if you forgive me."_

She cocked her head to the side. "For what? When you ran off that-"

"_Yes . . . I felt so badly that I had abandoned you in the clubhouse that I felt sick for days. Even though my shape had shifted before I had even left the tunnels, I felt awful."_

"Where did you go after that?"

"_To the forest . . . I parked myself under a tree for the night, and cried myself to sleep. The tears seemed to burn as they flowed down my face . . . werewolves aren't supposed to cry. I woke up the next morning, expecting to be in my cage as usual at Noel's house, like every other day. But no, I was this ugly, horrible MONSTER!" He got up from his crouched position and let out a fearsome roar, smacking Sandy's food bowl in rage and scattering the contents all over the cage floor._

Sandy was unnerved by his sudden temper, and tried to settle him down. She had to build up some courage, for he was still fuming mad and grunting loudly with every breath he took. "Stan! Calm down! What is with you!"

He sighed, and kneeled down beside her. _"Every day is a living nightmare. I cannot be seen by a living soul without them going into hysterics. I decided it would be best to roam only at night, when most animals are asleep. I often walk by the old clubhouse, thinking of our friends that perished inside. The way their bodies were left there to rot like forgotten souls in the deepest pits of Hell."_

Sandy felt a tear form at the tip of her eye. She turned away, trying to conceal her emotion from her brother. His attitude had definitely changed from the time since she had last seen him; he seemed more wise about everything, but in return he was more anger-ridden and prone to release it in a fury.

"_You don't know what it is like . . . to be like one of them. Just a forgotten soul. An outcast in the eyes of all other hamsters. You will never know the pain and suffering I've had to endure. NEVER!" She jumped, preparing for another fit of rage. But instead, he turned and crawled into a ball, growling to himself._

Sandy walked up to him cautiously. "Stan? Are you-" He reared his head and snapped at her ferociously, as if to say 'Back off!'.He then lowered his ears.

"_But one thing that's great . . . the power I've been granted. Look at these arms, these claws. I would have never gained such traits as a hamster." _

She looked at him curiously. "What are you trying to say?"

"_I could do anything I ever wanted. No one could stop me. Not you, not Noel, no one. If I wanted to . . ." All of a sudden he lunged at Sandy, picking her up by the skin on her chest and pinning her to the wall. "I could crush every bone in your body, rip the living flesh off your hide . . ." _

He sighed, and dropped her like a rag doll to the floor.

"_But I don't." He turned away. Sandy lay on the floor, bawling her eyes out. She could never imagine her own brother speaking to her like this. Stan, however, showed little sympathy to his frightened sister. "Get up."_

She did what she was told, trying not to invoke another anger attack. Even so, she dared not look him in the eyes, not after what he did to her.

"_Look, I'm sorry. This body is hard to control," he said halfheartedly. "Please, I want to gain your trust."_

She turned her gaze to him once again. "It's hard to when you keep exploding like that."

"_I'll try not to. Now, will you follow me?" he said, motioning to the door of her cage._

"What? Where?" she questioned, wondering what he wanted her to do.

"_Just come on. You'll see." He walked over to the exit. Like he had done when he entered, he shoved his muzzle under the bottom and shoved it upward. Holding it open for her, Sandy soon followed him. Once they were both out, he dropped it, falling with a cliiingk. The werewolf climbed up to the windowsill, Sandy right behind him. _

Stan heard a _thud_ below him when he reached the top. Looking down, he saw that Sandy had lost her grip and fallen. _"Get back up here, would ya?"_

"I-I can't . . ." she said weakly, lying almost motionless on the carpet below. He rolled his eyes, then made a mighty leap down. He grabbed her arm tightly, and bound back up the wall in a matter of seconds. As soon as they got to the top, he threw her aside.

"_Get on my back." As weak as she felt, she mustered up all her strength to climb up the beast's back. She put both paws on his shoulders, and gripped his sides with her legs. "Hold on . . .," he said, eyeing the ground about 20 feet below them._

Sandy gasped. "You . . . wouldn't . . .dare!"

Stan raised one of his eyebrows, and turned his head towards her. _"Oh, wouldn't I?"_

He stepped back then leaped forward, emitting a fierce roar when his feet left the ground, while Sandy screamed the entire way down.

Stan landed safely on his feet, but then lost his balance and fell on his side. Sandy crawled of his back, panting heavily. "I can't believe I lived through that . . . how did _you_?"

"_I'm a werewolf," he explained. "We don't get hurt as easily as you hamsters."_

"Whatever. What did you bring me down here for?" she asked in confusion.

Stan looked up to the moon. _"See that?" _Sandy nodded dumbly. _"It's what controls most of my power. During the next lunar eclipse, if I am pure of heart, meaning I have killed no one in this form, I will gain the ability to shift from one form to the other whenever I desire."_

"When is the next lunar eclipse?"

Stan paused for a moment. _"In less than a month from now."_

"Really? That's great! But what will you do until then?"

"_Same as usual. Prowl the night, hoping I won't lose control. Elder Ham ruined his chances the first night by murdering Auntie Viv. He had no control, for his body switched back and forth whenever it felt it wanted to. The moon being strongest at full, he often changed form at that time, switching back when it resided. I, however, am different from him. My body will stay this way forever, unless I can successfully witness the solar eclipse."_

"So-"

"_I need to go. Meet me back here in exactly three weeks from tonight, in this very spot."_

"Got it. Now what do you-"

"_I said I need to go. Remember, Sandy. Three weeks. I'll be here, I promise." With that, he left her in the shadow of her owner's house., and ran off into the darkness once again._

X X X X X X X X X X

_To be continued?_


	15. Eclipse

Chapter 15

The finale.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Sandy was standing at the edge of her windowsill. It had been exactly three long weeks since Stan had visited, and she hoped he would keep his promise and come back. The moon's light, brighter than usual, lit up the sky. A strange feeling came over her, a feeling of that her brother would not return. But she kept hope, and continued to watch for him through the window.

Then she remembered something she didn't think about. How would she get down to Stan if he _did _come? She couldn't jump; she would certainly fall to her demise at the bottom, nor could she go downstairs and escape from the front door because Hillary was asleep on the couch in the living room, and she didn't want to risk waking her up, and plus, she couldn't open the door. Or ... could she try and slide down the side of the house? That was her last possible option.

She turned and looked down from the ledge she was standing on into carpet of grass that made up her yard. The voices in the back of Sandy's head kept telling her _no_. She tried to ignore them, and then slowly crawled of the side of the platform and grabbed onto the steel siding of the house. In small intervals, she let herself slide down about an inch or two. Climbing down wasn't an option because her paws would not grip the walls. She continued to let herself down bit by bit.

When she was about halfway to the ground, she stopped for a moment and rested. She started her descent once again, but one of her paws let go of the wall. Sandy began to panic, her paws becoming sweaty and would not reattach to the side of the building. Her other hand lost contact with the wall, and soon enough the ground was rushing up towards her.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

_"Sandy?"_

The tiger-striped hamster was lying in the grass, bruised and scratched. Sandy was weak from the fall, but even so she managed to look up at whatever - or whoever - was there. Standing above her was a large, hairy silhouette that she recognized almost immediately.

"Stan? Is that you?" she said softly.

"_Do you know any other werewolves? Heck yes it's me."_

Sandy was relieved to know that her brother had kept his promise. "I'm so glad you came."

"_You sure fall a lot. Maybe next time you go climbing you should put some superglue on your hands." Sandy blushed. "Well anyway, I didn't come here for no diddle-daddle. We've got to hurry."_

"Hurry where?"

"_We need to go to the field. The trees are small there and won't block the view. I need to see the lunar eclipse completely or this won't work."_

Sandy gasped. "But the field . . . that's by the clubhouse!"

"_And your point . . . ?"_

"I . . . nothing. Nevermind. I just don't really want to go back there . . . not after what happened."

"_Neither do I, but we have to. Now come on, get on by back and we'll go there."_

Sandy shrugged it off, and did what she was told. She had no idea how fast Stan was as a werewolf . . .

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

They were in the field within minutes. Stan already had his attention set on the moon, but Sandy had her thought set on something else. The clubhouse.

The tree already had a dark feeling to it. Like it was dead. The few small windows were either cracked or missing completely, the bark on the tree was peeling, even the door looked rusty and old. She turned back to Stan, trying to forget the terrible memories of that night. She tried to talk to Stan, but he would not reply. She looked to the moon to see what he was so focused on, and sure enough, the eclipse had begun. Only a corner of the moon was shadowed, and it was progressing quickly across the rest of its face.

The whole moon was covered. Moments later, the shadow moved off the moon, and into the dark void of night. Stan looked down at her, still a werewolf.

"Now what, Stan?"

He paused for a moment, and then said, "_I am free from the curse."_

With that, he began morphing into his hamster form. His arms grew shorter, his teeth more dull, and his body less furry. When he was done, he lay on the ground, gasping for air.

"Sandy . . . I'm normal again."

She didn't believe it at first, but then over her shock she ran over to him and hugged him tight. "Stan! Stan! I'm so glad you're back!"

He pushed her off. "Yeah, yeah. Now I need to get back to Noel, 'cause I bet he's worried about me."

Sandy sighed. "And your attitude is back too . . ."

Stan, merely waving goodbye, left her alone in the field. She stopped him.

"What about the clubhouse?" she asked him shyly.

"What do you mean, 'what about the clubhouse'?"

"I mean, I kind of want to go see how it is in there."

Stan raised one of his eyebrows. "Weren't you the one who didn't want to go near that place?"

"I know, but . . . I'm curious."

Stan rolled his eyes, but then agreed to go with her. They walked over, and stopped at the door. "So . . . who goes first?" Sandy asked.

"You," her brother said. "It was your idea."

She breathed deeply, then pulled the door open slowly. A terrible small lingered in the tunnel, enough to make both hamsters gag. Surpassing the stench, they continued down the gloomy path, and the farther they went, the worse the smell got. Finally, they reached the door to the main room. Sandy placed her paw on the doorhandle, but paused.

"Stan . . . I'm not so sure this is such a good idea."

"Just do it. What's the worst that could happen?" Sandy closed her eyes and turned the handle. The door swung open, releasing an even more horrid scent than before. They then took a look into the room - and screamed. Lying on the floor was the rotted corpse of one of their beloved ham-hams. It was unclear _who_, for it was too decomposed to tell, the body not being much more than a skeleton with fur. But it was enough to make the pair of siblings bolt back down the tunnel faster than a bullet train.

They fell to the ground outside the clubhouse, completely out of breath.

"Ohmygawd ohmygawd ohmygawd . . ."

"I _knew_ that was a bad idea from the start, sis."

She gave him a blank stare, then agreed. "I'm sorry I made you do that-"

"It's okay," he reassured her. "But I need to go. Like I said before, I've got to get back to Noel." This time before he left, he stopped and gave Sandy a hug, and even a small peck on the cheek.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Stan was sitting on the rug outside the door by his house, waiting for Noel to come home. _"He'll see me for sure if I wait here,"_ he thought to himself.

A while later, he saw a pair of headlights pull into his driveway. It was Noel's car. Stan watched as his owner got out of his car, walked up to the door with his key, and . . .

. . . nearly stepped on him. To Stan's dismay, Noel didn't see him and he had to leap out of the way before he got squashed. Breathing fast, he jumped into the house before Noel closed the door.

"_That was way too close for comfort," he said to himself. He pondered on where else he could be noticed, then looked over at his human sitting down on the sofa. Stan scampered across the floor and up Noel's leg, which apparently startled him, for he shot up from the couch, leaving Stan hanging on by a thread. But by the time Noel looked down to see what had just crawled up his leg, he was overjoyed to see his hamster was back._

He picked him up in his hand petted him gently. "Oh, Stan! I missed you so much! Where did you go? I'm glad to have you back!" He brought Stan over to his carrier, and placed him inside. "Now don't you go running off on me again."

Noel then rushed off to his phone to call Hillary. Stan however, just smirked.

"I may be a hamster on the outside, but I'll still be a werewolf on the inside . . ." He morphed back into his wolf form and went to sleep inside his minihouse.

THE END OF ENDS

Stay tuned for my next story! Sort of a sequel to this, or a prequel, or whatever. It is somewhat related, but it isn't really a 'quel of any kind. The plot - Stan is a werewolf, but he doesn't want the others to know, especially not his sister. What will happen? You'll just have to watch for my new story!


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